LANSING TOWNSHIP, Mich. — "Not Lansing," would those words make you more or less likely to buy a house?
A local realtor is betting on more.
The sign reads: "Bob Pugh Open House" like any other house for sale sign. But in the upper left-hand corner it reads "not Lansing!" and that has the people in Lansing wondering what he means.
"Just kind of confusion as to why they think that it would be a good idea to say that its 'not Lansing' because Lansing is a really cool place," Sarah Carney said.
"Why did they think that this was something they could profit off of? Make a selling point off of?" Christopher Haag added.
Some were offended, others were surprised, but most were just downright confused by the sign. It was up over the weekend right outside the Waverly Hills neighborhood, telling passers-by there was an open house. But come Tuesday it was taken down, but the questions remained.
"So I mean I don't really understand. Why 'not Lansing' would be something someone would want to buy a house from," Kalyn McCullough said.
Today Fox 47 spoke to the realtor himself, Bob Pugh. He said he didn't mean any harm by the sign and just wanted his buyers to be informed.
"Many people have said to me they want to locate in Waverly or in other areas. And many times people pass this area up because they think it is the city. It looks like it would be in the city," Pugh said.
Pugh added that people often don't want to pay Lansing's taxes, and when they see online that it is listed in Lansing, it can turn people off.
"It's very confusing to the public when the public are depending upon that. I don't care about the social aspect or what that's all about. It has nothing to do with anything but the truth of where this is and what the ramifications are."
Others online saw where he was coming from, saying location does matter. But people in Lansing tell me wanting to be in Lansing is what brought them here in the first place.
"I would rather be in Lansing than not Lansing," Carney said.
Pugh said he's been selling homes in the area for decades and has sold quite a few in Lansing. Some of the confusion about what's in the city and what isn't comes from the fact that houses may have a Lansing mailing address even if they're in one of the surrounding townships.
Lansing's income tax is one percent for people who live within the city limits. It's a half-percent for people who work in the city but live elsewhere.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere.
Download our free app for Appleand Android
and
Sign up for newsletters emailed to your inbox.
Select from these options: Breaking News, Severe Weather, School Closings, Daily Headlines and Daily Forecasts.
